


swan diving off of the deep end

by pinkskiesvevo



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ballet, Friends to Lovers, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, basically just the ballet au that no one asked for, mentions of past drug abuse/addiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-11-23 01:32:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11392554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkskiesvevo/pseuds/pinkskiesvevo
Summary: the ballet au that no one asked for...“What did you say to new kid? He looked terrified,” Jack says“Just told him that he was standing in the spot belonging to the one and only Jack Zimmermann, son of Bob and Alicia Zimmermann, ballet royalty.” Riley replies, “Your highness,” he adds with a quick bow, “But I don’t think he knew who you are. I scared him off though. You’re welcome.”“Has anyone ever told you you’re an asshole?”----in which Jack is in the corps de ballet of Boston Ballet and Bitty gets called up from the second company to understudy him





	1. chapter 1

There’s someone standing in Jack’s spot. To some, maybe a greater man, this wouldn’t be a problem, but Jack is superstitious. He always stands in the same place at the barre, closest to the pianist and facing the mirror so that he can adjust his technique as necessary. The kid looks a little like a dear in the headlights, his eyes wide as he rolls out his feet on a tennis ball. He’s short, at least shorter than Jack, and blonde, with the classical ballet build, lithe with coiled muscles that allow him to spring into action at a moment’s notice. Objectively, he’s hot.

Jack really doesn’t want to ask him to move, so he finds a place at the back of the room to put down his bag and starts stretching, pointedly not looking at his spot. Just as Jack is about to get up to find somewhere new to stand, someone approaches the blonde, Riley, Jack realizes. Riley says something and the blonde nods his head vigorously, picks up his stuff, and moves to another barre. Jack holds off for a moment before going over to Riley, trying to avoid looking like he was waiting for the spot.

“What did you say to new kid? He looked terrified,” He says

“Just told him that he was standing in the spot belonging to the one and only Jack Zimmermann, son of Bob and Alicia Zimmermann, ballet royalty.” Riley replies, “Your highness,” he adds with a quick bow, “But I don’t think he knew who you are. I scared him off though. You’re welcome.”

“Has anyone ever told you you’re an asshole?”

Riley pulls his best shocked face, “Who, me?”

Before Jack has time to think of a witty reply, George walks in. “Alright everyone, I’m teaching today because we’ve got a couple of people out injured and we’ve brought in the second company to try them out in some corps roles.” She says. That explains the unfamiliar blonde. He must be training with BBII waiting for a spot in the main company to open up. “Apparently,” George continues, “It’s my job as artistic director to see who fits in.” A few people chuckle. “Let’s get started.”

*

After class, they go straight into rehearsal. Riley goes off to work on some new Justin Peck piece, and Jack checks the board to see where he needs to be. He’s surprised to see that he’s written in for Apollo, and even more surprised to see a name that he doesn’t recognize penciled in as his understudy. Putting a corps member like Jack in a principal role is uncommon, but a second company dancer, even as an understudy, that’s practically unheard of. Jack goes into the studio and sees the guy who had been in his spot earlier in the morning on the floor stretching. As Jack approaches him, the blonde says, “Hi, you must be Jack. I’m Eric.” Eric has a sweet voice and slight southern accent, his vowels sounding somehow rounder than Jack is used to having been raised between Montreal and New York City.

“Yeah, um, hi. Nice to meet you,” Jack replies. “So, are you one of the guys from BBII, or…” he trails off.

“Sure am!” Eric says, “I’m so excited to be here, and understudying Apollo, no less. It’s one of my dream roles.” Eric rolls onto his back and pulls one of his knees into his chest, stretching out his hamstring. Jack can’t help but be struck by how flexible he is, even more so than many of the other company members. Eric swaps legs and gives Jack an expectant look. When Jack realizes that he’s taken too long to respond, he flushes. “Um, yeah. Me too.” Once again, George walking in saves him from trying to make further comment.

Rehearsal goes smoothly, Jack doing most of the dancing, and Eric going over choreography with the girls’ understudies off to the side. Before starting to rehearse, Jack had been concerned that his and Eric’s physiques were different enough that they wouldn’t be able to partner the girls consistently, but that worry was quickly put to rest. While Jack looks the part of the athlete, tall and muscular, Eric really sells it. What he lacks in height, Eric makes up for with fluid movements, solid partnering, high jumps, and incredible stage presence. Where Jack focuses on technique, Eric brings the artistry. Despite the differences in physicality and technique, they have similar styles, both comfortable with the quick footwork and sharp lines that come with any piece of Balanchine choreography. At the end of rehearsal, Jack steps out to let Eric run through a couple sections with the girls. He’s captivated by Eric’s dancing. He manages the feat of looking strong and graceful at the same time with ease, and exudes confidence, even when he messes up. Jack is impressed, and tells Eric as much when rehearsal ends. Eric smiles sweetly, “Thanks, Jack. That means a lot,” he says, “Now I just need to keep it up.” Jack really looks at Eric for the first time. He really is attractive, even flushed from exertion with sweat glistening at his temples. He looks nervous, his eyes wide like they had been earlier that morning. Something makes Jack want to reassure him.

“I’m sure that won’t be a problem,” Jack says. Riley walks into the studio and nudges Jack with his hip to get his attention. “You ready to go dude?” he asks. “Sure,” Jack replies. “Riley, this is Eric. Eric, Riley. I think you guys met earlier?” Eric nods, looking slightly mortified. “Ah yeah, you were in Jack’s spot this morning,” Riley says, poking at Eric’s embarrassment like the massive asshole that he is. “I didn’t know, I swear,” Eric protests, looking at Jack pleadingly. Jack laughs awkwardly, “It’s no problem, really. I wouldn’t even have asked you to move.”

“He really wouldn’t have,” Riley says, “He would’ve found another spot and quietly blamed you if anything went wrong for the next month like the superstitious little shit that he is.” This pulls a laugh out of Eric. Riley asks if Eric wants to join them for lunch. Eric looks a little bit shocked at the invitation, but agrees. They walk over to a sandwich shop that Boston Ballet dancers regular, and grab an outside table. It’s nice, Riley and Eric trading stories from their time in BBII, and Jack occasionally piping up with an anecdote from college. When Eric asks where Jack went to college, he realizes that Eric really doesn’t know about him. That he didn’t follow the news stories about Alicia and Bob Zimmermann’s fuckup son who couldn’t even handle the pressure of a corps contract. It’s refreshing.


	2. chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “My boyfriend,” Bitty says, he stops, looking at the other two as if to gauge their reactions. He relaxes a bit when neither Jack nor Riley says anything. “I made dinner reservations for our anniversary next week and he just cancelled on me. It’s not a big deal though. He’s busy. I’m busy. I don’t blame him.”  
> \----  
> in which Jack is in the corps de ballet of Boston Ballet and Bitty gets called up from the second company to understudy him  
> \----  
> Sorry this chapter took so long! My outline is (pretty much) done for the next few chapters, so expect those to come a little more quickly. Thank you to everyone who left comments and kudos on the last one, you make all of this worthwhile! Also, I'd love to work with a beta for the rest of this fic, so if anyone is willing to do that shoot me a message on [tumblr](www.zimmermannvevo.tumblr.com) or something and we can work it out!

Going to lunch with Eric and Riley becomes a staple in Jack’s days. It’s during one of these lunches that Eric tells Riley and Jack that they can call him Bitty, because that’s what all of his friends call him. Jack feels a rush of pride at being called Eric’s, Bitty’s, friend.

Jack learns that Bitty is from Georgia. He grew up figure skating with ballet as supplemental training. When his family moved, he was no longer able to train with his skating coach, so he took up ballet full-time. Jack learns that Bitty loves to bake, and that when he first moved to Boston he made pies for all of the people on his floor in the apartment building where he lives. Jack learns that Bitty is kind and empathetic and loyal. As he spends more time with Bitty, he realizes that five years ago, they would never have been friends. Jack was too jealous back then, too trapped in his own head to appreciate Bitty’s natural artistic talent and affinity for winning over everyone he meets. Now, though, Jack’s okay with that. He knows that he’ll never be the most charismatic person in the room, and that what comes so easily for Bitty will never be his strong suit.

*

On the way to one of their lunches, Bitty gets a phone call. “Sorry,” he says, “I gotta take this. You go ahead.” Jack finds Riley and they grab a table, idly chatting while they wait for Bitty to return. When he does return, his eyes are red and his voice wavers when he says, “I hope y’all didn’t order without me. I’m starving.” Riley looks at Jack, who shrugs. They don’t mention it until the food arrives. “Bitty,” Riley says, his voice going a little softer than usual, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Just being silly,” Bitty replies.

“Wanna talk about it?” Riley asks.

“My boyfriend,” Bitty says, he stops, looking at the other two as if to gauge their reactions. He relaxes a bit when neither Jack nor Riley says anything. “I made dinner reservations for our anniversary next week and he just cancelled on me. It’s not a big deal though. He’s busy. I’m busy. I don’t blame him.”

“Dude that blows,” Riley says.

“Yeah, Bits, that’s really not cool,” Jack adds, albeit a little awkwardly. Bitty sighs,

“I should’ve expected it. He’s never been good with that kind of stuff. It’s just not important to him”

“Can we do anything to help?” Riley asks.

“Y’all are sweet, but I’ll be fine.” Bitty replies “I’ll call you if I need anything, okay?”

Riley and Jack leave it at that, Riley because Bitty looks uncomfortable, and Jack because he wouldn’t know what to say anyways.

Bitty is less closed off after that, comfortable enough to offhandedly mention his boyfriend, Alex, apparently, without acting like he’s scared of a bad reaction. Jack can’t blame him for being wary; ballet dancers aren’t as on board with the whole gay rights thing as people seem to believe. From a young age, Jack had been taunted for dancing by his peers, and when teasing him about doing something so “girly” got old, homophobic slurs took its place. When he started dancing at SAB, Jack assumed that it would get better, being surrounded by dancers all the time, but didn’t account for all of the guys who would do anything to prove their masculinity by throwing slurs around. None of the guys wanted a gay guy in the dressing room, and they made that fact known. It wasn’t a stretch for Jack to assume that Bitty had experienced the same.

Alex, on the other hand, sounds like a piece of work. He and Bitty had met at the summer program for The Washington Ballet two years previous, and had been doing long-distance since. Alex lives in Providence, which was part of the reason that Bitty chose Boston Ballet. He is no longer a dancer; he goes to Brown and studies law of all things. Bitty makes the hour-long drive to Providence whenever he has a day or two off, however it seems like Alex never visits, not even to see his boyfriend perform. Apparently he’s too busy with getting his degree and such, but Jack knows what that’s like, but if he were dating someone, he would’ve at least made an effort to see them. Bitty is absolutely head over heels for Alex, so Jack supposes he’ll have to get used to hearing about their relationship, as confusing as it is. He just doesn’t understand how someone so… Bitty… could be in in a relationship with someone who, honestly, sounds like a douche.

Jack doesn’t mention any of this to Bitty. It’s really none of his business. Still, he can’t help but notice that after his phone calls with Alex, Bitty looks slightly deflated. Riley takes notice as well. After rehearsal one Saturday, Riley hops into Jack’s car instead of walking to get on the T like he usually would. “Takeout for dinner?” he asks.

“Sure,” Jack replies.

They grab their dinner and head to Jack’s apartment. Jack has a faint idea of what’s going on, but doesn’t say anything. He’s worried about Bitty too, it seems like his relationship with his boyfriend is strained, and it’s exhausting to watch the back and forth that seems to constantly be going on. If Jack can pick up on it, Riley definitely can.

When they arrive at Jack’s place, they eat in silence aside from the occasional word of approval over the food choices. After they finish dinner, Riley turns to Jack with a pensive look on his face, “So,” he says, “Bitty. We need to do something about his boyfriend situation. It’s out of control.”

“It isn’t really our business,” Jack mumbles, fully aware that he won’t be changing Riley’s mind.

“We should just talk to him! Tell him that he can do way better than _Alex_ ,” the amount of disdain in Riley’s voice when he says Alex’s name is honestly impressive.

“Why don’t we just leave it be? They’ll probably work it out in their own time.” The problem is, Riley loves to meddle. He gets into other people’s business like it’s his job, which, while entertaining, makes Jack extremely uncomfortable; especially when the person being whose life is being meddled with is their friend.

“Or what if we give it another week before getting involved and in the meantime invite Bitty to Samwell with us to see the frogs’ senior projects and distract him from his crumbling love life?”

“Fine,” Jack says. “No meddling until then.”

*

“So, Bitty,” Riley says on the walk out of rehearsal the next day, “Jack and I are going down to Samwell to see his college buddies do their senior projects on Friday. Wanna join us?”

**Author's Note:**

> I imagine that Bitty has a similar physique/dancing style to [Chase Finlay](http://www.nycballet.com/Dancers/Dancers-Bios/Chase-Finlay.aspx) of the New York City Ballet, [here's](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZvyHxnu7DY) a video of him talking about doing Apollo, and some footage of him actually dancing it! It’s just a plus that Chase looks kind of like Bitty to be completely honest, that wasn’t intentional in the least bit. Dancing wise, not looks wise, I think Jack is similar to [Seth Orza](https://www.pnb.org/artist/seth-orza/) of Pacific Northwest Ballet, classically trained and very technically focused. Yet again, [here's](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HMHq6_s7cI) a video of him talking about and dancing some sections of Apollo! [This](https://rpwenzel.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/robert-fairchild-chase-finlay-a-tale-of-two-apollos-at-new-york-city-ballet/) article on NYCB’s Apollo really nicely highlights how I see the differences between Jack’s and Bitty’s dancing, if you were curious.
> 
> this has been fun! look forward to another chapter in the next week or so! in the meantime, feel free to talk to me over on [tumblr](https://www.zimmermannvevo.tumblr.com)


End file.
